High Court avoids decision on press access to Gaza, tells state to update it in March |
The High Court of Justice has once again avoided making a decision on a petition seeking unfettered, independent press access to Gaza, asking the state simply to provide an update on the situation in another two months’ time.
The decision comes following a hearing in the High Court on Monday on the petition filed by the Foreign Press Association (FPA). At that hearing, the justices appeared to be dissatisfied with the explanations provided by state representatives for the ongoing, blanket ban on independent press access to the territory.
The ban has been in place since the beginning of the war in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. FPA first petitioned for press access in 2024. A ceasefire in the war took effect in October 2025.
The attorney representing the state said he could only give further information behind closed doors, and the court agreed to receive the government’s explanations on those terms. The court also denied a request by Gilad Shaer, the attorney representing the FPA, to gain access to the information relayed to the court in the closed-door session.
In their decision issued on Monday night, Justices Noam Sohlberg, Chaled Kabub and Ruth Ronen said they could not publicly address the “classified security........